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CIGAR IMPORTS
Premium Cigar Imports Up Again, by 2.4% in 2017 Showing negligible growth last year, premium cigar imports continue to reach ever-higher post-boom heights. >E. EDWARD HOYT III
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remium, hand-made cigars imported into the United States posted their third straight year of gains in 2017, up 2.4 percent to 330.1 million sticks, a gain of 7.8 million cigars over 2016, representing the most cigars since 1998 when 334.6 million were imported. The total also represented a 33 percent overall increase over 1999, when premium imports bottomed out at 248.3 million, followed by an overall 18-year rise, according to annual statistics released by the Washington-based trade association the Cigar Association of America (CAA). The trade group tracks U.S. Bureau of the Census import data from eight key supplier countries that ship large cigars into the U.S. (Bahamas, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Philippines), categorizing those that have an import value of 76 cents or greater per stick as premium cigars. Based on import information voluntarily reported by its manufacturer members, the CAA then subtracts reported totals of machine-made cigar imports from a second category of large cigar imports—those having an import value between 23 and 76 cents which are a mixture of premium
machine-made (popular-price) cigars— to arrive at its premium hand-made import estimates. The statistical correction applies primarily to the Dominican Republic, which has a significant machine-made cigar industry while Nicaragua has traditionally had none, and Honduras a relatively modest output in that segment. The top three supplier countries of premium cigars to the U.S.—Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras—accounted for 99.5 percent of premium cigar imports, the same as 2016. In 1996, those three origins accounted for only 86 percent of premium cigars imported into the U.S. amid a much more diverse range of supplier nations, with the remaining 14 percent that year dominated primarily by Jamaica and Mexico. Nicaragua held the dominant position for a second consecutive year, with 148.3 million of its premium cigars imported into the U.S. in 2017, up 10.4 percent over the 134.4 million sticks imported in 2016. The Dominican Republic, which ranked second last year, saw an estimated 118.5 million premium cigars imported into the U.S., up 2.5 percent over 2016’s total of 115.6 million. Nicaragua margin over
the Dominican Republic grew last year, at 29.9 million cigars. Honduras saw a significant drop in premium cigars imported into the U.S., at 61.8 million sticks in 2017, a decline of 13.2 percent from 71.3 million sticks in 2016. Nicaragua’s share of premium cigars imported into the U.S. exceeded the Dominican Republic for the first time in 2016, putting the Central American country into the number one position of premium cigar suppliers to the U.S. and knocking the Dominican Republic into the number two position. This crossover followed 13 consecutive years of increasing shipments from Nicaragua to the U.S., reaching 134.4 million in 2016, compared to 115.6 million for the Dominican Republic, a margin of 18.75 million sticks. The Dominican Republic saw imports into the U.S. decline each of the four previous years, down from 134.1 million in 2012 The Philippine Republic saw its premium imports into the U.S. nearly double, from 449,000 sticks in 2016 to 863,000 sticks in 2017, a jump of 92.2 percent. It remained rank as the number four supplier origin. Mexico continued its long trending decline as significant player in the U.S. premium market, with 177,000 premium sticks imported into the U.S. in 2017, a decline of 49 percent over the 2016 total of 348,000. At the peak of the boom, it supplied 25.2 million premium cigar to the U.S., a 6 percent share. Costa Rican premium cigar imports jumped by nearly 53 percent, from 223,000 in 2016 to 340,000 in 2017, while Bahaman premium cigar imports rose
2017 U.S. Premium Cigar Imports (CAA estimates, thousands of cigars) Rank /Origin*
2017
Share
2016
% Change
1 Nicaragua
148,313
44.9%
134,375
+10.4%
2 Dominican Republic
118,461
35.9%
115,621
+2.5%
61,771
18.7%
71,270
-13.3%
3 Honduras 4 Philippine Republic
863
.3%
449
+92.2%
5 Costa Rica
340
.1%
223
+52.5%
6 Mexico
177
.1%
348
-49.1%
25
.01%
19
+31.6%
330,083
100%
322,329
+2.41%
7 Bahamas Grand Total
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census Report IM 146, Imports of Merchandise for Consumption, based on data from U.S. Customs Service, and derived estimates from Cigar Association of America (CAA). *Key supplier countries tracked by CAA.
26 SMOKESHOP October 2018
All Others .4%
Dominican Republic 35.9%
Nicaragua 44.9% Honduras 18.7%
